TeamUSATracker: February 6, 2022
Day 3 Preview: Ain't No "Surprise" Skiing Power Couple wrecks Havoc on Day 3, and TEAM USA could double their medal count on Day 3.
DAY 2 and SILVERš„ was the color of the day
(Yes the Olympic Pun was intentional. #2 and Silver)
Julia Marino (Westport, CT) and Jaelin Kauf (Alta, Wyoming) both won the first two medals (SILVER) for Team USA at the Beijing Winter Olympics.
Marino grew up about 20 minutes from the NBC Sports studio in Stamford, CT where Todd Richards was on the call Saturday night describing Marinoās run as āThe Best Run he has ever seen her doā. Julia Marino was in Gold Medal position for 16 runs until favorite Zoi Sadowski Synnottās on the final run won New Zealandās first ever Winter Olympics Gold. Marino won instant praise for her excitement for Sadowski Synnott's Gold as Marino and Bronze Medalist Tess Coady went up and celebrated with her instantly. "I am so happy for all the girls out here" she told NBC right after the event.
Jaelin Kauf grew up in a town of 460 people in Alta, Wyoming and came back from fracturing her back freeskiing into a tree just over a year ago. I loved this quote and story from her dad re the watch party after the race speaking on behalf of family -āIt was because our daughter and sister is skiing in the ā I don't want to swear ā but skiing in the Olympics,ā Scott Kauf said. āAnd laying down run after run after run. It's like, how do you not lose it? You worked your whole life for that.ā
ICYMI: Kaufās final run is slated to be part of NBCās primetime coverage tonight starting at 7 PMET. 4 American women finished in the Top 10 including Kai Owens who came from a nasty crash earlier this week. Also being featured in the early taped programming is 2018 Silver Medalist Chris Mazdzerās last individual luge run and his heartwarming interview (the best interview Iāve seen done with the family in the last two COVID Olympics) where Mazdzer thanks his wife for allowing to chase his dream and tells Lewis Johnson he has only seen his family 5 days since September in training for his final Olympics.
ā«TRACKING MEDALS: TEAM USA AHEAD OF PROJECTIONS
#TeamUSA Medal Count: 2
š„0š„2š„0
THINGS ARE LOOKING GOOD FOR TEAM USA.
Currently Team USA with 2 medals is tracking ahead of the estimated 26 Medals by @TeamUSATracker.
Both sports that won medals had been flagged by @TeamUSATracker as GOOD to GREAT chances to Medal.
DAY 3 OUTLOOK: 3 MEDALS (Team USA could play in 7 of the 8 MEDAL EVENTS with 4 ABOVE AVERAGE TO GREAT MEDAL CONTENDERS and 3 LONG SHOT MEDAL CONTENDERS who could get Top 8 finishes )
TEAM USA will get SILVER tonight in Team Figure Skating barring a disaster.
Note both AP & SI both predicted 4 medals tonight so @TeamUSATracker realize my prediction is low compared to other estimates out there.
@TeamUSATracker thought this would be the first night for Team USA to get Gold in Menās Slopestyle but the emergence of Su Yiming makes me worried about that prediction.
@TeamUSATracker Now some publications have called them āSurpriseā Silver Medalists but I take offense with that term āSurpriseā
The medal won by Jaelin Kauf in Moguls was not predicted by AP or SI and the medal by Julia Marino was not predicted by AP or SI ( a medal was predicted in Slopestyle was predcited to go to back to back Gold Medalist Jamie Anderson) so that is why the publications are using the term āsurpriseā.
Kauf & Marino are World class athletes having won huge events before all over the world. They both have previous success at the World Cup and in the case of Kauf she was the āfavoriteā in Pyeongchang. The experts who make predictions or odds use most recent World Cup races and World Championships races to put a name out before the Olympics because that is all the public knowledge out there. What we donāt know is how Jaelin Kauf and Julia Marino used the experience of a previous Olympics to know what to expect and adjust their training and prep at the Olympics. To put in the words of Kevin Kisner āThe Olympics: this aināt no World Cupā
Marino even talked about the pressure to NBC after her qualification run saying in big competitions she āthinks too much about landing and you mess it up even more". Once she landed her 2nd run in Qualification you just knew things would be big for Julia Marino.
ā«UPGRADE
I did upgrade Clare Egan as a long-shot (pun not intended) medal contender based on recent performances and the weather conditions in China.
Biathlon: Clare Egan who posted a career high 4th place at the World Cup before the Olympics and then carried US Biathlon in the Mixed Relay might be a medal contender especially if the weather conditions stay cold and Egan shoots clean in the race maybe the drought ends. (4AMET, Peacock)
šŗ#MUSTSEETV: DAY 3
DAY 3 is hereā¦ you will need the TeamUSATracker Google Doc and you can also blame one couple Ski Racing Power Couple Mikaela Shiffrin & Aleksander Aamodt Kilde for making tonight with so many good events.
Obviously @TeamUSATracker is kidding (or am I?) but because of Menās Downhill being reschedule we could have 3 marquee events all at the same time (Team Figure Skating, Menās Downhill, Menās Snowboard Slopestyle) all finishing at the same time
Currently NBC is breaking it down like this in their latest press release and check Google Doc for exact times especially given weather with skiing
NBC: Mikaela Shiffrinās first event (Womenās GS) follow by Team Figure Skating where Team USA will likely get the Silver Medal. The Google Doc has the exact time the Americans will skate tonight.
USA Network: Menās Downhill where Mikaelaās Shriffināsā boyfriend Aleksander Aamodt Kilde from Norway is presumptive favorite. Team USA has 3 downhillers in the race but Bryce Bennett who will go 1st and Ryan-Cochran Siegle who goes before Kilde are long shot medal contenders because both have World Cup podiums in the past 2 years.
Peacock: Red Gerard, Sean FitzSimons, & Chris Corning are trying to keep Americaās Slopestyle Gold Medal Streak alive against 17 year old Su Yiming from China and that event gets bumped to Peacock. Hopefully NBC put Todd Harris and Todd Richards on this call live on Peacock - because no calls jumps better than Todd Richards. The plan right now is to have Slopestyle run on an hour delay on NBC but if ski racing gets cancelled watch this Slopestyle Final get bumped back to USA Network
In the AM on USA Network - there is some Speed Skating where Team USA could win Medals as well.
Speed Skating: Womenās 1500M meter Brittany Bowe is going for her 1st Olympic indvidual medal in her 3rd Olympic Games (330 AMET, USA Network- Bowe is in the second last group 14th group so likely up after 4 AMET)
Short Track: Womenās 500M Short Track Speed Skating where Maame Biney & Kristen Santos looked really good in qualifying heats (630 AMET, USA Network)
šø#INSTA PICTURE OF THE DAY
Julia Marino after winning Americaās first medal at Beijing Winter Olympics
#TRACKINGTEAMUSA
Day 3 will be first day to see Emily Sweeney in action to the Olympics in Womenās Luge she was 4th in a training run yesterday so might be an outside medal contender.
Latest Updates on #TeamUSA as this morning Casey Dawson put on his Instagram that he headed to Beijing. I included Dawson as part of the 15 athletes not in Beijing.